Ministers will announce next week that the ban on overseas holidays will end on 17 May as part of the government’s Covid-19 roadmap out of lockdown restrictions, it has been reported.
The Telegraph reported on Friday that the government was planning to introduce a traffic light system to allow Britons to go abroad on holiday, with a “tiny handful” of countries expected to be on the green list with the lowest level of restrictions.
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All people, including those who have been vaccinated, will have to take a PCR coronavirus test when they return to the UK, according to the newspaper.
Most European countries are reportedly likely to end up on the amber list, meaning holidaymakers will be required to quarantine for 10 days when they return and take two tests on days two and eight of their isolation.
Those returning from red list countries will be forced to quarantine for 10 days in government-approved hotels at their own expense, the paper said.
Earlier this month, Boris Johnson said he understood that people were “impatient” to book summer holidays this year and insisted that he had not “given up” on resuming non-essential travel on 17 May.
“I do want to see international travel start up again. We have to be realistic – a lot of the destinations we want to go to at the moment are suffering a new wave of the illness, of Covid, as we know,” the prime minister said.